FOR EMBARGOED RELEASE: April 5, 2021
PROGRESSIVE REFORMER BRAD HOYLMAN ANNOUNCES PLAN TO CREATE
MANHATTAN TENANTS UNION TO ADDRESS THE EVICTION CRISIS
Borough President’s “Tenant Union Rent Negotiation Service” will avert evictions by organizing tenants to negotiate rent reduction & payment plans with landlords
MANHATTAN, NY — Manhattan Borough President candidate Brad Hoylman announced a groundbreaking plan to marshal the resources of the Borough President’s office to organize tenants into voluntary “unions” that can effectively negotiate rent reductions and/or long term rent payment plans with willing landlords. These negotiations will avoid costly and unnecessary mass evictions and homelessness.
Throughout the City, tens of thousands of households are struggling to pay rent amid the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. While local eviction moratoriums may be extended after the May 1st deadline, a process is needed so that tenants and owners can negotiate in good faith once these protections end. Both federal and local moratoriums provide protection from evictions in the near-term, but they don’t address the long-term financial problems of tenants who are suffering due to lack of income, or that of property owners who may be struggling to pay financial obligations due to lack of rental income. The Hoylman plan helps address both of these issues.
As Borough President, Brad Hoylman will reduce unnecessary evictions and lawsuits against tenants by: (1) facilitating the creation of voluntary “Manhattan Tenants Union” (MTU) consisting of tenants who rent from the same landlord; (2) connecting these new tenant unions with a landlord’s representative; and (3) supplying mediators and negotiation services to create mutually acceptable agreements for rent reductions and/or payment plans.
Brad Hoylman said: “We all know that power lies in groups, not individuals. The Borough President’s office has an ideal combination of street-level presence among renters and tenant advocacy groups; connections to landlords; links to volunteer mediation and legal services organizations; and a bully pulpit to successfully facilitate mediated, negotiated compromises between groups of tenants and landlords to avoid mass evictions and court cases.”
Specifically, the Tenant Union Rent Negotiation Service (TURNS) program will:
Develop an on-line portal and telephone intake system for tenants seeking to negotiate rent reductions and/or payment plans, and leverage the City’s current tenant hotlines;
Identify, connect and organize tenants from multiple buildings renting from the same landlord or holding company into “tenant unions” that can fairly negotiate with landlords;
Locate and invite landlords to negotiate with these tenant unions as an efficient and cost-effective way to avoid mass evictions and litigation;
Utilize neutral government and volunteer mediators to conduct the negotiations;
Work to create “templates” of accepted rent reduction and payment plans that can be replicated for similar buildings and for similar groups of tenants borough-wide and city-wide; and
Assist tenants in setting up one-on-one negotiations with the City’s new Landlord-Tenant Mediation Project if no tenant union can be formed in a given situation.
The program will seek to augment and improve upon the limited Landlord-Tenant Mediation Program announced by the Mayor’s Taskforce on Racial Inclusion and Equity in July to encourage individual tenants to negotiate with small landlords.
Brad Hoylman has spent the last eight years fighting in the State Senate for progressive reforms that make a real difference in New Yorkers’ lives. He led the fights to protect tenants during the COVID-19 pandemic, to strengthen vaccine requirements to protect children and the immunocompromised, make police reporting more transparent, end discrimination against transgender New Yorkers, ban ICE from targeting undocumented New Yorkers outside court houses, and get justice for victims of child sexual abuse. As Borough President, Brad will bring this same energy to tackle the toughest challenges including affordable housing, supporting public education and providing police oversight. Brad lives in the Village with his husband David and daughters, Lucy and Silvia. Brad would make history as the first LGBTQ Borough President.
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